everyone send some love to our guest blogger dana! she sent me her story on her personal fitness journey, which i thought would be amazing to share. she is the best! enjoy :)
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"push yourself"
by dana
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most women, that eat well and exercise, stay within a 10-15 pound range, and consequentially, are always trying to lose that last ten pounds. i know i struggled with it. i counted calories, watched what i ate, i got on the elliptical for 40 minutes every day, lamenting on the high school days where i was just thin without trying. of course i didn't take into account having a mother prepare my meals, a very set schedule that didn't encourage snacking, three days a week of mandatory physical education, and of course 3 hours a day of soccer practice. no, i was thin at 17, and i never realized just how much effort it took to have a taut belly and firm arms until i think about just how active i was, and how rarely i over ate.
nonetheless, i found myself in college, pledging not to gain the "Freshmen fifteen" by running every single day, including weekends, for half an hour to an hour. this worked out fine for a few weeks until parties started. my seven-day-a-week play quickly became 304 days a week, since i would often oversleep my morning running plans, or was too busy in the evening getting ready to go out. soon i started indulging a little in food.
"you ran 4 miles today...you DESERVE that giant piece of greasy pizza dripping with cheese!"
soon i forgot how often i was using my running excuse, and i was allowing myself to indulge every day, even though i was only running about three times a week.
"you ran six miles yesterday! even though last night you had brownies, you should definitely eat that cupcake."
the alcoholic drinks didn't help either. by my sophomore year, i had gone from my natural thin weight of 110 to 130. take that freshmen 15, i got 20.
no woman likes knowing her clothes don't fit anymore. i was miserable. so of course, i set out to do something. i started watching what i ate very carefully. i shot for the recommended 1200-1500 calories for weight loss. i started going to the school gym, and got on the elliptical for 40 minutes on level 6-9, since that's what i read experts recommend. by the next year, i had gotten down to 119. i had hit a plateau for months, and i just could not go any lower. i didn't understand. i was doing everything right! i hadn't even had a cookie in MONTHS. so, i looked to other people, read magazines, and jumped on the bandwagon. i decided that i have a DISTORTED view of the female body thanks to THEM. "THEY" who photoshop pictures of surgery enhanced celebrities and models. no THANK YOU! yet i continued to struggle, hoping that maybe it would take time to get down to 110. i was soft. my body was soft. i had slightly rounded shoulders, some pudge on my belly, and arms and thighs that jiggled softly. i wanted the hard body of my youth. i was doing everything from pushups to crunches to harden my softness.
it was terrible.
i decided it must be genetic. those models are genetically superior, able to be 21 and still have hard bodies. even though i was blaming the media, photoshop, plastic sugary, and even genetics, i still did not stop trying. i still dragged my ass to the gym every damn morning and sweated it out on the elliptical on level 6-9 for 40 minutes. i still did my 50 pushups and 100 crunches every day after the elliptical, and i still counted calories.
one day, i had a bright idea. why not ASK someone who knows what they are doing? i decided to approach a grad student in exercise physiology. i asked, "i can't seem to lose this weird layer of body fat that is keeping me from my goal. i used to have a toned body, and now i'm soft. i do the obligatory 40 minutes of cardio, and i even do 100 crunches daily. what is WRONG with me?"
he then asked me, " have you been doing the same thing every day? at the same intensity? has 40 minutes on the elliptical become easy?" then it dawned on me. i hadn't pushed my body. with the initial weight loss, my body had grown stronger and able to withstand more demanding physical activity, but i didn't up the ante. of course i couldn't get better if i wasn't challenging myself any more.
so that day, i made up a new plan. i would go back to my former love -running- a few days a week. i would do weight training 3 times a week, with real weights, not just some crunches. when i ran, i would have to run either at a faster pace than usual, run nice hills, or run longer than normal. it needed to be everything and anything to push me past my limits and into that uncomfortable area where i can struggle for half an hour or more. on the elliptical, i did intervals where i would do a few minutes on an easy incline, and easy resistance. after that, i would push it up to something i really had to work hard to keep up for a few minutes. then, i would take it all back down to easy. the weights made me stronger. i could feel it each day.
then one day i looked in the mirror. my face had become more chiseled. my shoulders had lost their slight roundness. i had already noticed my hard stomach, but it was still a surprise. it was feminine, yet i could see the vertical lines of muscle defining the plane of my belly. my legs were the best part . my thighs had hardened and they looked so firm, even in my skinny jeans. it was wonderful! i had gotten past my personal plateau! i had pushed myself beyond this limit that a lot of women never get beyond.
i loved how i looked and felt. i even enjoyed pushing myself past my limit. now, in order to maintain my body, 2 days a week i work out very hard, 3 days a week i work out at a moderate level, and i give myself 2 rest days a week now. you know why? because i've deserved it!
getting that model physique isn't impossible. of course most of the images we see are photoshopped, and we can't expect that with weight loss, we will all suddenly have mile long legs, a long thin torso, huge breasts, and all the other qualities of a photoshop-enhanced supermodel. what we CAN do is live up to our own personal standards and goals. you can get healthy, you can tone up, and you can feel amazing in that bikini at ANY age. wear those skinny jeans! all it takes is real effort to continually push yourself to get better. all it takes is some real effort to be your best self.
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